Posts Tagged ‘sweet’

We all deal with stress differently. Some work out, some go to a gun range, some have a cocktail. Me? I bake.

When I lived in Boulder one of my usual habits was coming home, throwing aside my bag, turning on the oven, and grabbing things from my pantry. I’d throw myself into a recipe with abandon, forget everything else about my day, and just bake. Last Thursday was one of those days. Not enough hours in the day, everyone was tense and overworked, surprise reshoots sprung on us, etc. I came home totally stressed, turned my brain off, and made cinnaswirl bread.

There’s nothing quite like the smell of cinnamon sugar caramelizing on fresh toast, so you can only imagine the awesome smell that permeates every inch of your apartment (or kitchen or house or what have you) when you bake this bread. I will warn you, it is an extremely drawn-out process (almost 4 hours of proofing total, plus 40 minutes of baking, plus 30 minutes of kneading/general prep), so don’t just start this bread without time to finish it. But please finish it. Trust me. Whether it’s for stress relief or just stuffing your face (or both) – it’s well worth the wait.

I know I posted some healthy, conscientious, figure-friendly banana chocolate chip muffins awhile ago. They’re great. Delicious. Healthy.

These are greater. More delicious. Not healthy. Many more chocolate chips. A lot more butter. A lot.

I made these as a thank-you gift to Rach’s sister who graciously let us stay at her house this past weekend during my visit to Minnesota. I had the most awesome time in Minnesota seeing Rach and my other girlfriend Steph for the first time since graduation. We laughed, we cooked, we watched Jon Woo movies. It was just like old times. And these muffins was our glorious breakfast for the weekend. The espresso powder doesn’t do much but make the chocolate really sing, and these are so moist they keep for days with no loss in texture or taste.

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This dessert is a total cheat. It’s honestly like breakfast for dessert to me because I have Greek yogurt w/strawberries, honey, and nuts for breakfast practically every day. Yet the idea of changing the vehicle, adding more crunch, and sort of morphing it into a really refreshing and easy summer dessert seemed divine. Especially since you can crisp the wontons far in advance and then just assemble come dinnertime.

I’d serve this dessert with a nice glass of chilled rosé or really good coffee (and maybe dip an extra wonton or two in it…) paired with a summer breeze.

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Oh, Easter. In a way you’re my favorite holiday in the culinary world more than any other because your day is devoted to breakfast and brunch, in which all my favorite foods reside. I was going nuts trying to choose what exactly to make for my Easter entry since there is no breakfast/brunch food I don’t love (no – really), and in the end, I had to go with one sweet and one savory dish (to be posted later).

Although we did a lot of the traditional Polish/Catholic customs for Easter growing up (dyeing eggs, strict lent, attending all Easter masses), our usual Easter fare wasn’t Polish at all. We’d have a big breakfast of sweet and savory things like scrambled eggs, potatoes o’brian, and Pillsbury cinnamon rolls before heading to church where I would secretly eat the Eggums I had snuck in my pockets and get disapproving looks from my mother. Then for dinner it would be bone-in ham, au gratin potatoes, and cornbread. There just wasn’t much Polish influence in our meals, so as much as I love my heritage and the food it offers, I decided to go with something we always enjoyed at our modern American Easter brunches.

The Doughboy certainly produces a delicious and fast cinnamon roll, but these just put him to shame. Although mine don’t make that glorious thoomp! sound when you make them, they are still ooey-gooey and rich cinnamon rolls with that cream cheese icing I could just eat by the bowlful. They require very little work (just time to rise) and once you’ve tried a homemade cinnamon roll, you’ll never touched the canned ones again.

Eggs, butter, buttermilk.

Dough + melted butter.

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My last few baking adventures have definitely not been swimsuit-season minded, to say the least. Chocolate cake and lemon bars and snickerdoodles… butter was definitely a theme these past few weeks. Thankfully since my gym is within walking distance of my apartment it hasn’t become an issue… yet. But there’s nothing wrong with nipping things in the bud and making a healthy(er) sweet treat once in awhile.

When I found this recipe I thought “Banana and chocolate… low fat? Sign me up!” yet I was still dubious. So many things claim to be delicious and satisfying yet healthy, and mostly fail. Especially baked sweets. Even as I ate the batter thinking “Wow, this is good…’ I still doubted the outcome. But good God almighty was I proven wrong with these muffins. They’re not only some of the tastiest muffins I’ve ever tried period, they really do only have 165 calories a muffin! I refused to believe it until I did the math myself because they are just. that. good.

The moistness is out of control with the bananas, the sweetness level is just right but not overpowering, and by cleverly using mini morsels and sprinkling them over only the top of the muffins, you get that delicious bit of chocolate, without adding the extra calories. No stand mixer required, too! They really are almost too good to be true…

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